Sunday, 29 October 2017

ZIMBABWE
will not experience basic commodity shortages as Government has
activated various production stimulants, principally prioritising
manufacturers in foreign currency provision, a Cabinet minister has
said.Social media abusers will also be actively tracked to thwart their
insidious habit of generating falsehoods to cause public alarm and
disobedience. In addition, retailers have approached Government to
withdraw licences of their peers who flagrantly hike prices and engage
in other unethical business practices.These interventions are contained in the first Special Cabinet
Committee on Prices Report that Cabinet received last week and will be
tabled before Parliament this week. The report, a culmination of
countrywide investigations and analysis of last September’s price
spirals, also recommends publishing stipulated basic commodity prices
regularly.In an interview last week, Industry and
Commerce Minister Dr Mike Bimha, who chairs the Special Committee, said,
“What we have done now is that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has
provided enough foreign currency to oil expressers to import the raw
material that we need to go right through the festive season. However,
we continue to monitor their productions and supplies. In the event of
any gap between demand and supply, we will allow importation of that
product so that we don’t experience shortages.

“Once we believe that local producers have products that they are
unable to make to meet demand; we will allow the importation of those
products. But we are happy that the RBZ has provided forex to enable oil
expressers to import crude oil to convert into cooking oil.’Dr Bimha said the committee’s countrywide survey established that
prices of most goods have receded to pre-September 23 levels. He,
however, noted that a few intransigent retailers were still
profiteering.“The report from the technical committee generally calls for
continuous engagement, and ensuring that we make sure that there is
consistent supply.We are confident that the supply side is covered, but people reacted
to unsubstantiated social media reports. Again, we have to deal with
social media, including using it to ensure that people know the truth.
Because we cannot say all news on social media is false, we can, in
fact, harness it to tell the true story.”Dr Bimha also said: “The new Ministry of Cyber Security will actually
help us give correct information to consumers so that they know exactly
what is taking place in terms of supply and prices, among other things.
We believe if we communicate the right kind of information adequately,
we won’t have the problems that we faced.”Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Mr Denford Mutashu said they want licences of unscrupulous retailers revoked.“Presently, we are going around noting the names of retailers
charging speculative prices, and we have forwarded their names to
Government and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the RBZ. Though we are
engaging, we have only sent names of those retailers we felt were not
complying. We went to Manicaland, Masvingo, Midlands, Mashonaland
Central and Mashonaland East, and many retailers were complying. We do
not have arresting powers ourselves, but we are working with Government.
We are considering drastic action, including even withdrawing their
licences. As a nation, we need to get to a stage where we call a spade a
spade.” Sunday News